The Game Baby Steps Includes Among the Most Impactful Decisions I Have Ever Encountered in a Game

I've faced some hard decisions in gaming. Certain choices I made in Life is Strange still haunt me. Ghost of Tsushima's ending section led me to put my controller down for several minutes while I thought through my alternatives. I am the cause of countless Krogan fatalities in Mass Effect that I regret deeply. Not one of those instances measure up to what possibly is the toughest selection I’ve had to make in gaming — and it concerns a enormous set of steps.

Baby Steps, the recent title from the makers of Ape Out, is hardly a decision-focused experience. Certainly not in the conventional way. You simply have to walk around a expansive environment as Nate, a onesie-wearing manchild who can hardly stay upright on his unsteady feet. It looks like a setup for annoyance, but Baby Steps’s strength comes from its deceptively impactful story that will catch you off guard when it's most unexpected. There’s not a single instance that showcases that quality like a key selection that I keep reflecting on.

Alert: Spoilers

Some scene setting is required here. Baby Steps game begins as Nate is magically whisked away from his family's basement and into a fantasy world. He soon realizes that walking through it is a challenge, as years spent as a sedentary person have deteriorated his physical condition. The slapstick elements of it all stems from gamers directing Nate gradually, trying to prevent him from falling over.

Nate needs help, but he has difficulty expressing that to anyone. During his adventure, he comes in contact with a cast of eccentric characters in the world who all offer to give him a hand. A self-assured trekker seeks to provide Nate a navigation aid, but he awkwardly refuses in the game’s best laugh-out-loud moment. When he drops into an unavoidable hole and is offered a ladder, he tries to play it off like he doesn’t need the help and actually wants to be stuck in the hole. During the narrative, you see numerous frustrating vignettes where Nate creates additional difficulties because he’s too insecure to receive help.

The Ultimate Choice

This culminates in Baby Steps’s one true moment of decision. As Nate gets close to finishing his quest, he discovers that he must ascend of a snow-capped peak. The unofficial caretaker of the world (who Nate has actively avoided up to this point) appears to tell him that there are two ways up. If he’s ready for a test, he can opt for a particularly extended and risky path named The Challenge. It is the most formidable barrier Baby Steps game provides; attempting it appears unwise to anyone.

But there’s a other possibility: He can simply ascend a massive winding stairs in its place and get to the top in a short time. The single stipulation? He’ll have to address the guardian “Lord” from now on if he opts for the effortless way.

A Difficult Selection

I am absolutely sincere when I say that this is an painful decision in this situation. It’s all of Nate’s insecurities about himself culminating in a particularly bizarre situation. A portion of Nate's adventure is centered around the reality that he’s unconfident of his physical appearance and manhood. Whenever he sees that handsome trekker, it’s a hard reminder of everything he’s not. Taking on The Challenge could be a moment where he can prove that he’s as capable as his imagined opponent, but that path is likely filled with more awkward mishaps. Is it justified suffering just to make a statement?

The steps, on the flip side, provide Nate with another significant opportunity to choose whether to take assistance or not. The gamer cannot choose in about they turn away a map, but they can choose to provide Nate with respite and choose the staircase. It might seem like an straightforward selection, but Baby Steps game is remarkably shrewd about making you feel paranoid whenever you find a gift horse. The world is filled with intentional pitfalls that transform an easy path into a obstacle suddenly. Are the stairs yet another trap? Might Nate arrive to the very summit just to be disappointed by some last-second gag? And more concerning, is he prepared to be humiliated yet again by being compelled to refer to an odd character as Lord?

No Perfect Choice

The beauty of that moment is that there’s no right or wrong answer. Each path brings about a genuine moment of protagonist evolution and catharsis for Nate. If you opt to attempt The Obstacle, it’s an personal triumph. Nate at last receives a moment to show that he’s as competent as anyone else, voluntarily accepting a tough path rather than suffering through one that he has no choice but to follow. It’s hard, and maybe ill-advised, but it’s the moment of strength that he requires.

But there’s no embarrassment in the stairs as well. To choose that path is to eventually enable Nate to accept help. And when he does so, he discovers that there’s no hidden trick awaiting him. The staircase is not a trick. They extend for some distance, but they’re easy to walk up and he does not fall all the way down if he stumbles. It’s a straightforward ascent after extended challenges. Halfway up, he even has a discussion with the outdoorsman who has, naturally, chosen to take The Obstacle. He attempts to act casual, but you can tell that he’s exhausted, subtly ruing the pointless struggle. By the time Nate arrives at the peak and has to pay his debt, calling the character Lord, the arrangement scarcely looks so bad. Who has time to be embarrassed by this freak?

My Choice

During my game, I opted for the stairs. Some part of my reasoning just {wanted to call